


Wheels On The Bus (Dark Academia AU)

by sophwrites_07



Series: Melanie Martinez K-12 Dark Academia AU [1]
Category: Cry Baby - Melanie Martinez (Album), K-12 (Album), K-12 (Movie 2019), Melanie Martinez (Musician), Wheels On The Bus Melanie Martinez
Genre: AU, Dark Academia, Dark Academia AU, Melanie Martinez - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:01:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25751026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophwrites_07/pseuds/sophwrites_07
Summary: Sent to a boarding school in New Hampshire by her alcoholic mother and cheating father, Crybaby is dreading the year. However, on the bus ride she meets someone she's convinced she's seen before, and something unexpected happens going against everything Crybaby's ever known.From the first chapter it is hard to see that this is dark academia! Don't worry, though, it will be.
Series: Melanie Martinez K-12 Dark Academia AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1867960
Kudos: 6





	Wheels On The Bus (Dark Academia AU)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a WIP! More chapters will be added.

Crybaby woke to the shrill sound of her alarm. She waited in bed for a few moments, her eyes closed, relishing the last few moments of sleep beneath her eyes. When she opened them, she shook off the residue of a strange dream before pushing herself out of bed. 

First day of Hell was written in Sharpie on the calendar tacked to her wall, but it wasn’t like she needed the reminder. The date had plagued her, an unwelcome shadow in the back of her mind the whole summer. Crybaby had tried her best to enjoy the long days of popsicles and chlorine swimming pools, but it was useless. Come September, she would leave home. And never return again.

Crybaby jumped back, startled at the unpleasant thought. That’s ridiculous, she told herself. K-12 will be fine. Fun, even. Like Hogwarts. She wasn’t convinced, but sometimes little lies were mandatory in keeping one’s sanity.

She ran her fingers through her hair as she walked to the kitchen, unsurprised by the empty vodka bottle resting on the counter. With a sigh, she pushed it out of the way and reached into the cabinets for cereal. Phillipe came tumbling out along with the Cheerios into her bowl.

Phillipe was Crybaby’s tarantula, given to her by her father for her thirteenth birthday, as if that was a suitable replacement for him. Though she had taken a liking to Phillipe, the same couldn’t be said for her father.

“What are you doing here?” Crybaby said, letting Phillipe crawl in between her fingers. The spider said nothing, of course.

Crybaby changed into her itchy uniform, composed of a white buttoned shirt under a dark grey wool sweater vest, a black tie, and a red plaid skirt that hit just above her knees. 

“Oh mom, how I wish you weren’t passed out right now so you could drive me to the bus stop,” Crybaby said, hoping for some response from her mother’s locked room, but she wasn’t surprised when no answer came. Typical.

. . .

It was a blustery day, the leaves were slowly starting to change. Crybaby made her way to the bus stop, where she stood alone, watching the steady stream of cars on the road. Such things were usually comforting, but this only reminded her that she was leaving home. 

The bus pulled up with a screech, it was already crowded. Great, she thought. She walked up the stairs and down the aisle, and to her disappointment, every seat had at least one person in it. Well, here I am. Time to pick a friend. Crybaby’s eye flitted to and from each student, and they finally settled on a pale girl with dark brown eyes and brown hair. She had a kind face, and the corner of her mouth tilted upwards when she made eye contact.

“Can I sit here?” Crybaby asked.

“Sure,” the girl said, and took her backpack from the seat next to her and put it on the ground. 

They rode in silence. Well, just Crybaby and the girl. The rest of the bus was as loud as you might expect. She tried to keep her gaze right in front of her, to the back of the seat because across the aisle a young couple were making out. He grabbed his girlfriend’s face, shoving his tongue into her mouth, and she fumbled at his belt.

Really? Right here? Right now? Crybaby wanted to say, but she managed to keep her mouth shut. She looked to the girl next to her, to see if she saw the PDA too, and she just rolled her eyes. “It’s best to just ignore it.” 

“Is that even possible?”

The girl laughed. “Well, believe it or not, you get used to it. Angelita,” she stuck out her hand.

“Crybaby,” she responded, bracing for a weird look or at least an eyebrow raise.

If Angelita was taken aback at the name, she didn’t show it. “Your first time on a school bus?”

Crybaby smiled. “Yeah, except for field trips. Is it that obvious?”

The bus ran over something (or someone) and Crybaby jolted forward, face planting into the seat in front of her. 

“Yeah, I’d say it is.”

At that moment a paper airplane landed in Crybaby’s lap. “Don’t open it-” Angelita warned, but it was too late. 

Gap-toothed bitch, it read. Angelita sighed and took the paper from Crybaby’s lap. “Wow, real mature!” She yelled to the back of the bus, but Crybaby didn’t hear her. 

The corners of her vision started to blur, but she took a deep breath and swallowed the tears. Not here. Not now. 

Angelita smiled sadly. “Welcome to K-12.” 

The next fifteen minutes was full of Crybaby and Angelita making small talk, asking each other about their home life and their favorite artists and such.

“Why does it smell like marijuana?” Crybaby asked.

Angelita smirked and rolled her eyes. “The kids in the back are passing a joint around.”

“How does the bus driver not notice?”

“I don’t know, no one gives a fuck.”

Crybaby was starting to see that, and she didn’t know if the idea comforted or worried her. Suddenly, the bus sputtered to a stop. Everyone went silent, and a boy walked on. His hair was brown and gelled back, his eyes big and a wide easy smile covered his face.

“Ugh,” Angelita said, disgusted. “That’s Brandon Allimyer, a.k.a douche bag extraordinaire. He has like, maybe seven brain cells.”

“Mmhmm,” Crybaby muttered, though she wasn’t paying attention. With a surge of confidence, Crybaby stood up and offered Brandon her hand. “Hey, I’m-” Brandon pushed past her and walked towards the back of the bus and sat across from a pretty blonde girl who turned back to Crybaby and gave her a mock sympathetic look.

Angelita gave her a silent face that said I told you so, “he’s dating Kelly Richardson. She’s a plastic asshole, they all are. Don’t worry about them.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Crybaby said, but she didn’t mean it.

She didn’t talk to Angelita the rest of the drive. Crybaby watched the trees pass outside of her window, and she saw crows sitting on the power line. She counted them, a rhyme her grandmother had taught her when she was little: one for sorrow two for joy, three for a girl four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told.

Seven’s a lucky number, Crybaby told herself, but somehow she didn’t think she was going to be lucky this year at all.

Looking back on it, Crybaby wouldn’t be able to explain what happened. One moment they were on the road, riding smoothly, and the next they weren’t.

“The bus if off the road!” Kelly yelled, taking a break from kissing Brandon to announce the obvious.

Crybaby grabbed the seat in front of her, and held on for dear life. She closed her eyes as the bus swerved every direction and catapulted off a small hill. Screams filled her ears, and then complete silence.

Terrified, Crybaby slowly opened her eyes. She climbed over Angelita and pressed her face to the window, all she saw was water.

We’re underwater, Crybaby thought, panic rising in her stomach. Drowning is a terrible way to die.

The panic then begin to slowly fade from her, and she was left with an eerie calm. And then a feeling came over her. She turned towards Angelita. “Have I met you before?” She asked.

The corner of Angelita’s mouth twitched. “I don’t know, maybe in another life?”

Crybaby blinked and in an instant memories came flooding forward. Ice cream, a wolf, a carnival with bright lights, Furbys... Furbys? She opened her eyes and it was all gone, but her head hurt like hell. Crybaby looked around the bus, feeling sick. She knew something. Something was happening, something happened. To her.

“Do you know what to do?” Angelita asked.

Crybaby was surprised to find she did. She nodded. “Together.”

The two girls closed their eyes, and when they opened again they were pitch black. Feeling strength from something else, they watched in amazement as the bus started to float, climbing higher and higher out of the water until it landed back on the road.

Their eyes returned to normal, and Crybaby looked at the other students. A glaze fell onto their faces, and then they shook it off. And everything continued as if nothing had happened.

“W-what happened?”

Angelita shrugged. “I don’t know, but I have a feeling I used to.”

Crybaby nodded, “yeah, so do I.”


End file.
